Toxic Masculinity Causing Men to Avoid Tofu and Exclamation Points

Sure the gender wage gap is keeping the patriarchy intact, but what’s money if oppressive societal expectations are keeping alpha men from spending it on books of prose to read while indulging in wine and singing along to the new Frank Ocean? It isn’t easy identifying as a guy, according to “American Male,” the winning submission of MTV’s Look Different Creator Competition, which asked for video project submissions on privilege and produced the winners. The short film follows the inner monologue of a poor man’s version of Channing Tatum as he keeps up appearances with his (grossly homophobic) frat bros by following all of society’s bogus rules for not appearing soft, or gay. He ends up dodging meat substitutes because it “can’t get more gay than tofu” and not pursuing the arts (because he doesn’t live on a coast). Apparently men also deny themselves the joy of using exclamation points, which really just seems cruel!